Safari 'souvenirs' bond CSUS professor to Africa

Millions of tourists visit Africa each year on photo safaris or to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. That's pretty much what Sacramento State science professor Ruth Ballard intended in 2001.

"We were just there to climb the mountain and go on safari, but we got a little sidetracked," said Mary Hansen, then a graduate student who accompanied Ballard.

Call it CSI-Tanzania.

Ballard, a geneticist, "is always thinking," said Hansen. And as the two women climbed Kilimanjaro, Ballard turned her attention to the porters who carried their luggage and equipment.

"She thought it would be a good idea to collect DNA samples on the porters," Hansen said.

Ballard and Hanson collected 30 samples from the men, who came from various locations in East Africa. After the climb, the pair visited a Masai village and collected more DNA samples there.

"They are so isolated," Hansen said. "Ruth just thought it would be great to do a study."

"It was basic scientific interest," Ballard said.

Since that trip, Ballard's life has taken more twists than an eland's horns.

"I love the Tanzanian people," she said. "I am embedded in country now. I have attachments. I could not extricate myself if I wanted to."

She has set up a DNA database for Tanzania, population 34 million, traveling to Africa numerous times to take spit samples on what became known as "saliva safaris." She's also promised residents of neighboring Kenya she would do the same there.

Ballard performs her African work each summer. During the school year she tends to her duties as an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at California State University, Sacramento.

She has been a key player, along with the head of the Sacramento County Crime Lab and the chairman of the CSUS criminal justice program, in developing the forensic biology concentration for biology majors. The concentration, called CSI-TRU, for Crime Scene Investigation – Training and Research for Undergraduates, is an outgrowth of student interest piqued by "CSI"-type television shows.

"I discovered there was an enormous interest in forensics among students here," Ballard said. "I thought that was a hole on this campus that was not getting any attention."

Forensics is a growing field, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers prefer graduates to have internship experience. So Ballard came up with real-life training that could lead to jobs in crime scene investigation.

"They get hands-on experience, troubleshooting experiments and really learn to use the equipment," she said. "They leave here with a research project done."

Twelve students – all women – are enrolled.

About the same time that Ballard was developing the forensic studies program for Sacramento State, she started her work in Tanzania.

Contacting scientists at Muhimbili College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, she asked for permission to do a DNA study involving the Masai – one more complete than the samples she took while on safari with Hanson. Government officials approved the request but asked that Ballard put together a database for the whole country and train Tanzanians in its intricacies.

Over three summers, Ballard and her team of Sacramento State students obtained samples from more than 1,000 people.

"They spit into a vial," she said. "It's completely noninvasive."

Getting the DNA serves two functions for the Tanzanian people: It can establish paternity in court and solve crimes.

The paternity problem is especially vexing for rural Tanzanian women, Ballard said.

Urbanization has prompted men to obtain better-paying jobs in cities, sometimes leaving wife and children behind.

Tanzanian women encourage Ballard in her work, because – armed with the ability to establish paternity with DNA – they can go after husbands for support.

"Women are really desperate for some way to make the men take responsibility," she said.

Her work in Africa is far from finished.

Just before hurrying off to lecture earlier this week, Ballard said Africa is in her plans for next summer.

If Tanzania is to benefit from the DNA database, the country needs a lab. She is working with government officials to build a DNA laboratory.

And there is also that request from Kenya, which wants Ballard's help to build its own DNA database.

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